Ta'Lon Cooper had every intention of getting himself open to hit the game-tying shot at the end of regulation before turning over the ball in the Gophers' 63-60 loss Tuesday at Wisconsin.
"It just hurts to lose like that because of how hard we fought back," Cooper said. "I didn't realize I had six turnovers. I was just trying to play."
The junior point guard ended any chance to pull off the upset in Madison with his team's 20th turnover of the game, but the Gophers want Cooper and others to remain confident to make those plays.
"We don't have a bunch of guys who can play in ball screens and create off the bounce," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. "He's kind of the main focal point. Being the main focal point of the other team, he's still able to set guys up, find guys and deliver the ball."
Entering Saturday's game against Nebraska, Cooper ranks second in the Big Ten with 6.6 assists per game, but he showed he can lead in other ways with a team-high 16 points against the Badgers.
Cooper has six double figure scoring games this season, but he'll need to figure out how to be aggressive offensively without being careless with the ball. The same goes for junior forward Jamison Battle, who had 13 points, nine rebounds and also six turnovers.
The Gophers' top three scorers Cooper, Battle and Dawson Garcia combined for 43 points, but also 15 of the team's 20 turnovers.
"We need those guys to make plays," Johnson said. "They have to look to attack and make plays. Now it's more of just being a mature player and not having the careless type turnovers. … Now it's just we have to tighten that up because they're good enough players where that type of stuff shouldn't happen. They know to win games that stuff can't happen."
